A Smile
by Exclemental
Summary: When it comes down to it, smiling is the most terrifying thing you can do. Rated M for a reason, quite a bit of swearing, and some very explicit scenes/themes, possible triggers
1. Chapter 1

**Contrary to what you might think, this is actually my first fanfiction, despite the intimidating forewarnings. Constructive criticism is appreciated.**

Leon sat on the steps leading up to the house, a bored look on his face, half covered by his brown hair. The place was quiet, and only a few people were walking around outside. He glanced towards the bottom of the road, his twin brother, Eren, and his adopted sister Mikasa were walking up the road. He smiled and called out to them

"Hey!" Leon ran down and fell in with them.

"Hey" Eren half-heartedly replied and Mikasa stayed quiet, as usual.

"What's wrong?" his smile dropped

"It's the Recon Corps; when they came back, everyone was dead silent and they all looked like something terrible had happened... They were carrying bodies and injured people with them, I thought the Recon Corps were unstoppable!"

Leon looked at his brother, frowning.

_Always with the Recon Corps, he's obsessed with them._

He was going to say something, but thought better of it. They walked the rest of the way in silence.

As soon as they walked in, they could smell Mom cooking something delicious, bringing them out of their solemn mood. Leon sat down next to his Dad, who only gave him a quick glance before looking back at his newspaper. Eren dropped the wood he had on his back into their storage box.

"How come you never help out man, and I have to do all the work!"

Mikasa scoffed and Leon grinned

"You mean Mikasa does" He replied

Eren looked at him angrily

"Oh did she?" Mom turned to them looking unhappy, Mikasa nodded and Mom gave Eren a dirty look before grabbing the plates and dishing food out to everyone. The food was wonderful, as expected. When they had nearly finished the meal Mikasa spoke up

"Eren wants to join the Recon Corps."

Leon raised an eyebrow, though he wasn't surprised at all. Dad glanced up from his newspaper and Mom dropped her fork in disbelief  
>"What!?" She said angrily<p>

"You promised you wouldn't tell them Mikasa!"

Mikasa looked at the floor, Mom stood up.

"You, are _not _joining the military! Let alone the scouts!"

"Yes I am! I want to go out and fight the Titans! I want to take back what's ours!"

Mom's voice began to tremble, she looked at her husband

"Honey please talk him out of this!"

He glanced at his watch then put down his paper and sighed

"If he wants to I won't stop him, it's up to him what he does when he's older. Anyway, I'm going now, don't want to be late."

He stood up and walked towards the door, as he opened it he turned around. He held up a key and looked at his two sons "I'll show you two what's in the basement when I get back"

Before he left he added a quick "Bye, love you." and they replied with the same.

Mom had calmed down, luckily for Eren.

Leon looked down at his plate. He'd always wondered what was in there... Memories began flooding back to him when his brother snapped him out of it

"Come on guys, let's go meet Armen, he said he'd be near the pond about now."

"I think I'll just stay here, I'm a little tired"

"From sitting around all day? Must be hard on you."

"Shut up" Leon rolled his eyes as they left.

He sat in his chair for a few minutes, watching his Mom wash the dishes with half open eyes, before he eventually fell asleep.

He was awoken by a loud crash coming from outside. He sat up wide eyed

"What was that?" Mom looked out of the window, when she froze. A huge, terrifying face peered out onto the city.

"What's is it Mom?" Leon leaped up and looked out the window. When he saw it he froze as well. It had broken the wall. The Titans were going to get in. It was all over. He snapped out of it as he heard screaming and grabbed his Mother by the arm.

"Come on Mom we have to go! We've got to evacuate!" She ignored him however, and just stared, trembling.

"Mom!" No reply. He could see the Titans entering the city. He tried to drag her out but she was just frozen.

"MOM!" He screamed. Thinking he could get help, he ran outside. Shouting, but no one could hear him, too many people were screaming. He ran down the street to see if he could see his siblings anywhere, but they were not to be found.

"TITAN!" someone pointed in the direction of Leon's house as a large crash was heard. Leon stopped when he saw it. A Titan, standing atop the wreckage, with a serene look on its face.  
>"MOM!" Leon screamed in terror, anger and sadness all at once. He looked at the Titan, disgusted and fearful. It hadn't seen him among the crowd, and continued south, towards Eren and Mikasa.<p>

He ran over to his house, searching for any sign of life, when finally he found his mother. Under a wooden beam.

"Mom!? Are you okay!?"

She was out, and didn't say a word.

"Mom!" _Is she dead!? No, she can't be! _Leon attempted to lift the beam, but it was far too heavy, even for someone known for being strong for his age of 10. He dropped to his knees.

"It's useless. It's over."

He sat for what seemed like days, before his brother and sister came running through.

"Leon? Are you okay? Wheres Mom!?" Eren asked him, but he didn't reply. Eren then saw what he was looking at, his mother, who's eyes where just now opening."Eren, you have to leave without me, my legs have been crushed-"

Hannes, one of the stationary guard and a family friend, zipped down to them with his 3DMG.

"Don't worry, I'll get you out of here!" He declared as he ran towards the children's parent. They all smiled with hope in their eyes, when they heard what sounded like a Titans footsteps, and they were right. Hannes stood tall, and ran towards the it. He readied his weapon, looking up to its face, but when he did he froze. Its terrifying smile stared back at him. Hannes turned tail and ran from the horrible thing, he picked up Eren, and Leon, telling Mikasa to climb on his back. She knew there was no other way. She got on as he began to run as fast as he could.

"Thank you Hannes!" Carla smiled with tears in her eyes. The titan was over her, and it picked her up.

"NO!" Eren screamed as she was bitten in half by it. Leon remained silent and expressionless, shock had overcome him and he couldn't move as a result of it. Mikasa did the same, not wanting to see her adopted mother, who took her in and loved her like she did Eren and Leon, die an awful death.

Eventually, the group managed to get to the inside of wall maria, and got in line for the boat. All three looked harrowed as Hannes put them down and ran back to the wall to get back to his duties. It was a struggle getting on the boat, but they made it. So many people were screaming, trying to get onto the boat, but the trio was on the last one. Armen and his grandpa had made it on too, luckily. The boat began to leave, and people tried to jump over to the boat, usually falling into the water. Leon looked back just in time to see a Titan crash through the wall. It looked different, almost armoured. He closed his eyes and began to cry.


	2. Chapter 2

**This is the chapter where it gets pretty serious**

3 years later

Leon stood in the blazing sun, dead still, not wanting to anger Instructor Keith. The canyon like a pot that he was being baked in, ready to be eaten up by some passing Titan. Keith was going from person to person and shouting something demoralizing at them, which he felt was kind of unnecessary. _Well what I think doesn't count for much here__**. **_He smiled slightly as some short kid was getting picked up by his bald head, when suddenly the Instructor stopped. He was looking at something or someone. He glanced over in the direction Keith was looking. _What the fuck? _There was a girl standing there, potato in hand, eating it like she had no idea where she was. Leon was both shocked and amused, and he couldn't help but crack a smile. Keith spoke to her in a quieter tone, just as bewildered as everyone else it seemed.

"What is your name!?" He blurted out

The girl did the standard fist-on-heart salute that the short kid had messed up just a second ago.

"Sasha Braus, from Dauper village, Sir!"

"Sasha Braus huh? And what's that there in your right hand?"

"A steamed potato!" She replied in a tone that probably sounded quite disrespectful to Keith. Leon's smile grew wider at that. _She's kinda cute _He thought to himself.

"Did you steal that?" Keith brought his face down to her's

"It looked delicious Sir, so I gave it shelter it my stomach!"

A few people chuckled, including Leon. Leon looked over to Eren and he looked stunned. Mikasa even raised an eyebrow. _Wow she has an expression, that's rare._

"But, why would you eat that potato? Why here? Why now?" the Instructor managed to get out.

"Are you asking why people eat potatoes in general? I'm surprised you don't know sir."

People gasped, Leon's eyes grew wide, smiling more incredulously then ever. _She can't say that, that's her superior offi__c__er. _Leon looked at Sasha, everything from her face to her pony- tailed hair made her look average and mild-mannered, a stark contrast to what she was saying right now. _Maybe she's just dumb._

Keith said nothing for a while.

"Come with me." He said in a deathly tone.  
><em>She's in for it now<em>

A few hours later

Leon sat in the corner of their dorm room while everyone was gathered around Eren, They were asking him about what he saw on that day. Leon was trying to read and eat his soup. _I won't get any peace in here_. He put down his now empty bowl of soup and walked outside. The night air was cold on his skin, and the wind made his long hair dance. He scanned the area for somewhere to sit and read his book. Well Armin's book. He always used to go on about it to Eren, about the outside world. Leon had never really cared until now, in his boredom when there's nothing else to do. He wondered where that girl _Sasha? Yeah I think so. _Was. Keith probably had her up all night doing chores or something.

Finally he saw a small shed that was empty by the looks of it, and he began walking towards it. He looked down at his book just before he opened the door. When he looked up, he froze. There was Keith, with his cock in his hand, and Sasha in front of him, kneeling with tears streaming down her face.

Leon's jaw dropped. Looking from Sasha to his Instructor and back again.

"What the fuck?!" He shouted as he stared at Keith who had a look on his face like he had really fucked up.

"What the fuck?!" He shouted again, with much more poison and disgust behind his voice this time. He saw that Sasha had a black eye when he looked back. This tipped him over the edge. He went for Keith shouting obscenities all the while, Keith quickly hid his genitalia and readied himself. Leon through a punch but he quickly dodged it and hit him in the face. Leon was knocked over by the force of it. He stopped himself from fully getting knocked down and got on one knee. He sprung up again but his Instructor upper cut him, sending him reeling back. _I can't beat this piece of shit with fighting, he's too strong._

He had an idea.

"I will-" He was cut off when Keith threw a kick at him, he managed to block it with his arm, even if it did mean a massive wave of pain was sent up it.

"I will tell everyone. I will tell your superiors, the soldiers, everyone!" Keith stopped at this giving him a worried look.

"I see that got your attention. So, you have some options, murder us right here, or you leave this place tomorrow, with your dignity still intact"

Keith stepped back.

"Or I tell everyone, you'll be taken to prison and probably murdered."

At this his instructor ran out of the barn _I'll see if he's still here tomorrow._

Leon looked down at Sasha who was still bawling and panting. He put his hand on her shoulder

"H-Hey, it's okay he's gone now, you're gonna be okay." His voice trembled out of shock. With that Sasha latched on to him in a tight hug. Leon hugged her back.

"I promise."


	3. Chapter 3

**2 Chapters in one day, on a roll here. Enjoy!**

After Leon had brought Sasha back to the dorms everyone was already asleep. They were in that shed for a while. Leon managed to get Sasha to sleep eventually, it took a while for her to stop crying. He stood up after sitting on the end of her bed for so long and walked over to his bunk underneath Eren. Hearing him, Eren dropped his head down and looked at his brother lopsidedly.

"Sooo, Leon, picking up the chicks are we?" Eren smiled but Leon didn't seem to think it was very amusing.

"Shut up." He replied in a dark tone as he stared at the underside of the top bunk

"Aw come on man you can tell me." He said light heartedly, not realizing the gravity of the situation. Leon turned to Eren with a dead look in his eyes.  
>"Shut. Up."He commanded in a harsh, deep tone.<p>

Eren looked taken aback by his usually playful brothers harshness. He was going to say something, but when Leon turned around he thought better of it.

"Sorry" He said quietly before laying back down in his bunk.

_What's the matter with him? _Eren wondered, He glanced over to the bunk of the girl his brother had been with a moment ago. Her eyes where red raw and what looked like tears were still on her face. _That's that Sasha girl from this morning, why is she crying... and why was Leon with her... she has a black eye..._ Ideas rushed through his head all at once and he remembered Keith walking off somewhere with her. _Oh my god... _At that moment he knew what had happened. He did not sleep very well that night, nor did Leon and Sasha.

The next morning, Leon was awake earlier than most people, as he usually was. Mikasa was already sat on her bunk above Annie, who was still asleep.

"Morning" She said with a small voice. He didn't say anything, simply raising his eyebrows to her as a half-hearted acknowledgement of her existence. Eren was snoring loudly above him. He got up and put his uniform on. He looked over at Sasha and was glad to see she was sound asleep, almost as if last night never happened. He smiled a solemn smile. He stood up and walked over to the dorm room door. It was today they were doing their running with a heavy load training, he hoped Sasha was okay to do it. _I guess she'll have to be. _Leon frowned as he gave the sleeping girl a glance. He walked outside and sat under the apple tree near his dorm, eating his breakfast of an apple from the tree and sighed deeply. He began to drift off due to lack of sleep last night, despite his efforts, he slipped into a dream.

People were finally starting to come out of the dorm about now, so he got up. He saw Sasha on her own and she saw him. She began walking over.

"-Hey..." Leon said awkwardly. Thankfully, Sasha smiled slightly back

"You okay?" He asked, even if he knew the answer. She was going to say something when dread came over them. It was the voice of Instructor Keith commanding people to get in line behind him.

"Oh fuck." Leon muttered. He looked at Sasha, who looked terrified.

"Hey it's okay, I'll sort this out I promise, all we have to do is run while he rides ahead okay? I'll stay near you."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

With that they got in line and began the trek to the place they were doing the race/training. Sasha stuck close to Leon without talking to anyone. She wasn't exactly in the mood for small talk. Eren was just ahead of them. Seeing them together confirmed what he suspected, especially because of the look on the girl's face. They walked most of the way in silence. Eventually they arrive at the starting point. Keith was on his horse ordering people around. It started to rain and everyone pulled on there coats. _Perfect._ Leon sighed heavily. Once everyone was ready, Keith shouted

"GO!

He kept with Sasha as promised, making sure to stick towards the back. The two didn't talk at all for most of it. Leon had no idea what he was going to do, despite his reassuring words to the girl. He stared at his feet while he ran. _What do I do? _At that moment, he heard galloping hooves in the distance. _Keith on his horse, I must be catching up to him! _After a moment or two, he caught sight of the Instructor with his back to them. An idea struck him. _Sure would be a shame if he fell off his horse and got trampled, what a horrible way to go. _The corners of his cheeks turned upwards and he sped up.

"Don't worry, I'll be back soon." He said before sprinting ahead. Eventually he caught up to Keith and his horse. Keith tried to give him an intimidating look, but it was easy to see the paranoia behind it, even in this weather.

Leon looked down at his horse's leg. And back to Keith, who's face was beginning to twist into fear. Leon gave him a smile, a terrifying, almost Titan-like smile. Keith tried to speed up but his student kept up with him. _Let's do it. _He grinned as he kicked the horses legs in the opposite direction they were going in, his strength and anger snapping the leg instantly, Keith began to wobble and fall off as the horse buckled. The horse in panic and confusion tried to keep running, and failed. It trampled Keith repeatedly, until Keith began to bleed from his mouth. _POUND POUND POUND _The horse crushed his ribcage and legs, making his bones jut through his skin. Blood poured out of every orifice. Leon was still grinning that terrifying smile, and he didn't really know why. The horse fell to the side of the road and continued to frantically move its legs, whinnying all the while. _It's all over, Instructor. _Leon breathed out heavily, the smile disappearing. Suddenly, Keith jerked his neck upwards and spluttered blood all over his own mangled boy

"No you don't!" the grin returned as Leon rushed to one knee and grabbed Keith by the head, he jerked the Instructors neck sharply to the side, twisting his head grotesquely.

The smile fell from his face, but he wasn't unhappy about what had happened.

_It's over now._ He heard running behind him and spotted Sasha. She stopped dead in her tracks, staring at the body.

"Leon!"

Sasha breathed heavily partly out of fear and partly out of breathlessness

"You killed him!"

"What do you mean? He fell of his horse. Isn't it unfortunate." Sasha thought about what he said. _No, he deserved it._ She may not have looked it, but she was happy for the first time since that night.


	4. Chapter 4

**Short chapter I know, I might upload another later on today. Enjoy!**

Leon stood in the heat. Today was the funeral of the honoured Instructor Keith, who died in a horrible riding accident. He had done it. He had gotten away with it, Sasha was going to be okay. The precessions were standard, and some guy gave a speech. The only one who knew about it were Sasha and Leon. Eren had also figured it out, but the pair didn't realize it. Eren was okay with it though. He knew what had happened, and his strong sense of justice meant he thought Leon did the right thing. He intended not to tell anybody for fear of how they would react.

Later that day, at the dorm

Most everyone was in the bar drinking, except for Leon and Sasha. Sasha had been sat next to him on her bottom bunk for a while. They weren't talking, just sipping from their glasses occasionally. She worked up the courage to rest her head on his shoulder. Leon didn't react. As Sasha went for another sip, Leon spoke up

"Do you think I did the right thing?"

Sasha looked back at him.

"Of course you did, he deserved it." Sasha frowned, he seemed so happy at the funeral, what had come over him?

"Besides he would have been murdered in prison anyway, like you said... In the.. The..." Sasha stopped and began to tremble

"What's wrong?" She leaned back onto the wall, forgetting her drink all together.

She couldn't stop herself from bursting into tears.

"Why are you crying? It's okay now, he's dead."

"I-I know" She stuttered through her tears

"B-but that doesn't ch-change the fact that-" She sobbed

"It doesn't change the fact that it happened!" Sasha cried out as tears continued to stream down her face. Leon put his arms around her and she did the same to him. He didn't really know what to say, so he said nothing. He had to be there for her. No one else would be. They all just see her as that weird girl that ate a potato in front of the Instructor. Leon wished she could just be that. After a few minutes, she had stopped crying. Leon got up, seeing she had fallen asleep. He picked her up and laid her down in the bed. He was about to walk to his own bed before she said, sleepily.  
>"Don't go... Please"<p>

Leon looked down at her, frowning,

"Please?"

Leon moved the sheets out of the way and settled into the bed. Sasha laid her head on his chest and slowly slipped into a dream.

When everyone came back, they were surprised and amused to see them sleeping together, but were too drunk to really make anything of it. Eren stumbled into Leon's bottom bunk, too drunk and tired to attempt a climb of the ladder up to his. Even Mikasa was a little light headed, and stumbled her way up to her bunk. Christa and Ymir came through the door, together as ever. They say Leon and Sasha sleeping together. They followed suit and climbed into bed in Ymir's bunk. Eventually everyone was asleep, all accept for Mikasa.


	5. Chapter 5

Leon and Eren stood side by side on the red sand of the canyon, in line for their 3DMG training. Mikasa was up at the moment, and she was easily staying balanced, as usual. Even though Mikasa was adopted, well, not even officially adopted, she just kinda lived with them, she always felt like the favourite with their mother. It usually got Eren pretty riled up. It never particularly bothered Leon though. Eren kept on this morning about how he'd join the scouts, which meant Leon and Mikasa had to as well. Leon didn't have any obligation to, unlike Mikasa thought she did. But hey, he doesn't want to get separated from his brother and sister... and Sasha is too. If they die, he wants to die with them. Unlike most people, he never had any particular fear of death. He didn't want to die obviously, but he just saw death as a peaceful sleep. Nothing to fear. He wasn't fearless of course, he got scared a lot, but more for the people he cared about than himself.

These thoughts were getting a little too heavy for his liking. He looked over to his left and caught Sasha staring at him. She blushed slightly out of embarrassment but he gave her a reassuring smile.

"EREN YAEGER!" The new Instructor called out. He was a balding man of about 50, but despite his age he was incredibly strong, and incredibly loud. Eren had that look of determination in his eye. He walked up to the podium and strapped on his gear. Mikasa fell in where her brother had been standing, between Armin and Leon

"Nice job up there."

Mikasa nodded her head.

"You know you're allowed to speak sis."

"But I don't need to." Mikasa replied sharply.

Armin frowned at Leon and he shrugged in reply. _What's up her ass today?_

A laugh came from the crowd when Eren lost balance and banged his head on the ground. He had somehow managed to fail spectacularly. He threw off his gear in a huff and began the walk of shame back to them.

Leon patted Eren on the back

"You'll get the hang of it."

"LEON YAEGER!"

"Well I'm up, wish me luck"

"Good luck!" Sasha shouted to him as he walked through the crowd

He stood on the podium and strapped on his 3DMG. He began the ascent upwards, managing to maintain his balanced

"Remember, not to much force, not too little, just balance!" His Instructor shouted up to him. Leon managed to position his legs right, just like Mikasa had a few minutes ago. He stayed suspended in the air for the required 30 seconds, barely even moving during it. He smiled as he was brought down and the crowd clapped like they did with everyone except Eren. His brother clapped glumly while Sasha did the same in a much more excited fashion.

"SASHA BRAUS!"

Sasha and Leon crossed paths on their way and smiled at one an other.

A few hours later

Sasha and Leon were in the dorm room along with everyone else. They sat across from Eren and Mikasa. Armin was reading on the table behind them after Leon had finally given him his book back. They were all eating noodles, and Sasha was wolfing it down as expected. But Mikasa was barely touching her food, twirling it around her chopsticks absent mindedly. Eren seemed to have recovered from today's embarrassment. _Thank God, I don't need two mopy siblings. _Leon stared at Mikasa's solemn face. He spoke up.

"Mikasa, what's up? You've been moping around all evening, is something wrong?"

"I'm fine. Excuse me." She got up to leave and walked past his side, he touched her arm.

"Sis-" Mikasa jerked her arm violently and hit Leon's in the process.

"I'm fine!" She stormed away and slammed the door.

Everyone turned and stared at Leon. Armin looked confused/concerned as always. Jean with that douchey smile of his. Leon turned back to Eren.

"Any idea what's up with her?"

Eren shrugged and continued to stuff noodles into his mouth. He frowned and looked at his plate.

"Should I go after her?"

"Ho-ho no." His brother replied.

"You know what she's like when she's pissed off."

Leon was concerned about her, but he decided to take Eren's advice and leave her to brood or whatever.

When he had finished, Leon and Sasha got up and walked over to her bunk. They sat for a while inside it as they usually did at night. Eventually everyone had gone to sleep and they were left the only ones awake.

"Leon"

"Yeah?"

"Do you..."

"Do I what?"

"Uh..."

Sasha really didn't want to weird him out with this, but she had to say it.

"D-Do you... Love me?"

Sasha looked at the floor like this was a really bad idea, her breath shook a little _This was a bad idea_. Leon looked down at her, with thoughtful eyes.

"Yeah I guess I do."

Sasha was taken aback by non-chalant he was being about it. She stared back at him.

"R-really?"

Leon nodded.

"I-I love you too." She turned bright red. They locked eyes for a few seconds, slowly inching closer to each other, Sasha and Leon closed their eyes at in sync with each other.

"Well well well." His brothers voice echoed across the room.

"Look at you two." They stopped and stared at him. Sasha looked embarrassed and became even redder.  
>"You two are pretty cute you know." He said again<p>

Leon gave him a death stare that would scare off a tiger.

"Sorry." He says before laying back down.

_Leon can be almost as scary as Mikasa sometimes_ he thought to himself.

"Sorry about him" Leon whispered and Sasha giggled cutely. They looked at each other again. _Fuck it. _Leon went straight in and kissed her on the lips and held there for a few seconds before letting go. Sasha gasped afterwards in shock and happiness. She smiled and put her arms around him. They lifted up the covers and got in to bed.

Eventually falling asleep in each other's arms.

Later that night

Sasha was standing in front of Leon, in what looked like Trost, her home district, she kept shouting, but he couldn't hear her, or see her from what she could tell. _What is this? _She thought. At that moment, a titan appeared over him.

"Leon watch out!"

The Titan grabbed him, it didn't seem like an ordinary Titan to her. Sasha screamed to Leon as the Titan threw him towards a broken wall, it had the metal rebar from inside jutting out of it. He landed dead-on the rebar, both his eyes impaled by it

"NO!" She screamed.

Everything faded to black, all that was left was him. At that instant, he was over her, an almost Titan like smile on his face, with blood leaking out of his empty eye sockets.

She woke up panting, sweating and shaking. She looked over at Leon's sleeping form, he was OK. _Thank God. _She thought. He was facing the other way from her.

"Leon?" She shook him awake. His head twisted around grotesquely with that same smile on his face, dripping blood from his non-existent eyes.

Then she woke up for real. He was looking at her, worriedly.

"Sasha? Are you OK? You screamed in your sleep."

Sasha looked as though she was going to burst into tears. It was all too much.

"Hey, hey, it's OK, I'm here."

She latched on to him tight, but managed to stop herself crying.

"I love you." She blurted out

Leon smiled.

"I love you too."


	6. Chapter 6

**Enjoyed writing this chapter, hopefully you will enjoy reading it**

Sasha had decided to pair up with Leon, naturally, for today's hand to hand combat training. It was her turn to be the thief first. She held the cardboard knife in hand.

"Don't be gentle with me just because I'm a girl. There's no fun in that" She beamed

He smiled back

"Alright, but if you get hurt it's your own fault."

With that, Sasha rushed towards him with the knife, at lightning fast speeds.

"Oh shit" worried he'd get his ass kicked, he just managed to grab her arm and sweep her legs out from under her.

"Ow, that hurt"

"Well you said not to go easy." He grinned at Sasha, who had annoyed look on her face.

Leon reached a hand down to her to help her up. Once she was on her feet she handed the knife to him. He walked a few paces back, before rushing forward with the knife as fast as he could, he was strong, but nowhere near as fast as Sasha. She realized she couldn't take him down with brute force, so she quickly side stepped and tripped him up. He fell flat on his face into the gravel.

"Ah my face!" He turned around to a smug looking Sasha looking back at him. They both laughed at each other, which apparently gave Leon's nose the cue to bleed profusely. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sat up.

"Oh no! I'm sorry!" Sasha rushed forward

"It's fine, It's fine" he told her with a nasally voice.

"You sure?"

Leon looked at her annoyed

"Do you really think I can't take a little nosebleed?"

"Sorry to offend your manhood."

They both chuckled as his nose slowed to a drip. After sitting quietly a few minutes it stopped bleeding, luckily for him. He got up and stood next to her.

He saw Eren and _Uh, Ray? I think he's Ray. Yeah. _on their asses with a pissed off looking Annie walking away. _Then again, hard to tell if she is pissed off, she always looks like that. She's like Mikasa in overdrive._ He looked at Sasha, grinned, and began walking over to them.

"Look who got their asses kicked by Annie, what a surprise."

"Shut up, douche, she's strong as hell. I mean look at Reiner-"

_Oh Reiner, Okay._ He was a big guy, she must have a lot of strength to put him on his ass.

Leon reached down a hand to his brother and helped him up. Eren saw the blood beneath his nose and grinned at Sasha.

"Looks like someone got knocked on their ass too."

Sasha perked up at this

"Fell flat on his face when it was his turn to be the thief."

"You played dirty, you tripped me up." Leon said sheepishly

Everyone chuckled at that, he sighed, annoyed.

Sasha went over to him and gave him a playful little hug.

"Well you should be more careful next time"

"I guess I should" He smiled lopsidedly, hair covering his left eye

"Daww" Eren beamed from the back. Leon scowled and lightly punched him in the arm. Eren smirked before the Instructor shouted

"Bring the knives back to me cadets, afterwards, you are free to go!"

The four of them jogged back to the Instructor.

After they dropped of their equipment, Reiner went of on his own.

"See you later man!"

"See ya"

Eren waved goodbye to him and turned back to them.

"Say have you guys talked to Mikasa at all? I haven't seen her around much lately, and she wont talk to me in the dorm."

The couple shrugged

"I'm worried about her." said Leon, with that concerned look on his face he always gets. Sasha always thought it was pretty hot when he did that.

"Well I'll leave you two to your business I guess." Eren began walking away

"We don't mind if you tag along with us!" Sasha shouted to him.

"We don't?" Leon whispered to her, she replied with an elbow in the stomach.

"Nah I'm alright, I'm gunna go find Mikasa. You two have fun!" He said as he walked away.

_Phew_ thought Leon, he loved his brother a lot, but he didn't exactly want him tagging along when he was with Sasha, plus he can be pretty annoying when it comes to this stuff.

"Well what do you want to do now?" Sasha clasped his right hand and looked up at him. He was tall for his age, about 5"9, while she was about 5"5.

"Uh... wanna go get lunch?"

Sasha eyes widened.

"Yes-I-do."


	7. Chapter 7

Later on that day

Everyone had sat down for dinner when Eren and Mikasa came through the door. Leon noticed Mikasa's eyes were red and puffy, _Has she been crying? _Leon shook his head _No, she never cries. _Eren and Mikasa sat down at that table

"Hey" Leon said to them.

Mikasa sniffed and breathed out heavily

"Hey" She smiled weakly.

He hesitated, he didn't want to piss her off, but worry overcame him

"Are you okay?"

Mikasa looked him in the eyes, continuing her weak smile

"I wasn't okay, but I'm better now, thanks"

"Good" Leon smiled back at her. He didn't like seeing his sister upset. He wondered what had happened between her and Eren, but decided he would ask later.

They had nearly finished their meal, when Jean spoke up.

Leon was chatting with Sasha, so hadn't noticed until they stood up.

"Woah guys, calm down."

"Stay out of this Leon." Eren replied in a harsh tone. Leon frowned, he had that look in his eye again. _Oh dear_. They stared at each other for a while, Jean and Eren. Suddenly, Eren grabbed him by the arm and kicked his legs out from beneath him.

_Woah. _Jean was on the floor immediately.

"Dammit" He whispered to himself.

"What the hell was that?"

"Little something I picked up in training today" Eren glanced at Annie as he said that.

_Oh I get it, that's the move she used on them._

Eren came back to sit down with a smug smile.

"Nice job man" Leon said as they high fived across the table.

"That was fucking awesome Eren holy shit!" The little short kid said from the table next to them.

"Thanks Conny"

_Conny? That's his name? Pfft. _Even though he thought he had a stupid name, he didn't dislike the guy, he was pretty nice to everyone, especially Sasha... Maybe a little too nice. Leon wasn't particularly bothered though. A_s long as he doesn't try anything stupid he's fine with me. _He was brought out of his thoughts when Sasha grabbed his arm.

"Wanna go outside? I feel like having a walk."

"Sure, why not"

They got up to go walked over to the door

"See ya guys"

"See ya" His siblings replied. He looked over to Armin but he was lost in his book again.

The couple walked outside with Sasha still holding onto his arm. They looked around as they stood on the patio, seeing Jean lighting a cigarette. Leon smirked and was about to say something but Sasha tugged on his arm.

"What?" He whispered

"Don't say anything, let him have some of his dignity."

Leon was about to protest, but realized she was right. There's no point in being unnecessarily cruel to the guy.

They stepped off the patio and into the cold night air. Sasha shivered and grabbed him tighter.

"So where do you want to go?" He looked around the area slowly. He was about to to turn back around when he saw the shed, that same shed from the night they had first met each other. Leon froze for only a few seconds before Sasha noticed, and looked in the same direction. She began to breath heavily and he hands began to shake. This snapped Leon out of it and he whirled around to Sasha.

"Sasha, look at me, it's okay calm down." She shook more and more until she was making Leon shake as well, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Look at me" She didn't respond, and continued staring at the wooden cabin.

Jean was watching them from the background

_The hell is up with her?_

Sasha began to cry quietly. Leon tried to blink back his own tears.

"H-Hey come on now, it's okay I- I'm here." Sasha pulled him into a tight embrace as they both started to sob.

"I'm sorry" Leon managed to get out.

"I shouldn't have brought attention to it, I'm sorry" he said again

Sasha sobbed into his shoulder and held him tighter

"It's okay" Her muffled voice came shakily.

"It isn't your fault." She said

"I love you" Leon sobbed into the side of her neck.

"I love you too" She replied without fail.

Jean watched this scene intrigued.

"Uh, hey, you two okay there?"

Leon opened his eyes after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah, we're okay now." He smiled, realizing that maybe Jean wasn't so bad after all.

Sasha looked up sniffling and smiled at him

"Yeah."

"Well that's good I guess. I'm not gonna ask what that was about... but whatever it is, I hope you guys can get through it." He gave them an awkward smile before throwing his cigarette on the floor and hurrying back into the dorm.

"You know, he's alright." Leon said

"A little arrogant, but he's okay"

Sasha stayed quiet and wrapped her arms around his left arm again

"How about that walk?" He asked

"Okay" She managed a little smile before they set off in the opposite direction of the shed, not looking back. They decided to sit under the apple tree near the small pond. It was quiet, nothing but the sound of crickets and the occasional sound of small fish making bubbles with their mouths. They stayed for a few hours, cuddling and talking quietly to each other.

"Do you think we'll ever beat the titans?" Sasha had her head laid on Leon's chest.

"Maybe" He replied.

"Maybe? I was hoping for something a little more reassuring than that."

"Well you wanted to know what I think, and that is what I think."

She frowned and shuffled her head into a more comfortable position.

"Honestly, if we do beat them, I doubt it'll happen in our lifetimes."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah. We all have to die eventually, and some people will never come to terms with that."

Sasha sat up and looked at him, frowning still

"When it comes down to it, we only have a short life here, made even shorter by the threat of the titans. Me and you will probably die in the mouth of a titan. Which sounds horrible. But it doesn't last for very long. When we die, we just stop existing. No more pain, no more sorrow, no more anger and harsh truths. Just sleep. A peaceful sleep for the rest of eternity. And that gives me hope, which is why I don't fear death, I fear for the loved ones I'll leave behind. Like Eren. Mikasa."

He looked at Sasha

"You."

Sasha was taken aback.

"Don't say things like that, you are not going to die. I won't allow it."

Leon smiled at her.

"and I'll never allow you to die. Even if I know that's impossible, I will do anything to prevent it from happening, no matter the consequences."

"You'd do that for me?"

"Yes."

"Promise?"

"Promise."


	8. Chapter 8

Leon laid awake next to Sasha. He could hear her breathing, which gave him comfort. He heard a small cough coming from where Eren was supposed to be sleeping. Leon looked over to him, seeing he was awake, sat up in bed, arms around his knees. He frowned at this and sat up slowly.

"Eren?"

Eren sniffed slightly

"Hey... man"

"What's up?"

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

Leon rolled his eyes and climbed out of bed. He walked over to his brother's bunk and climbed up the ladder before sitting on the opposite side of the bed to to to his brother.

"Spare me the bullshit. I'm your twin, I know when some things up with you."

Eren sighed and looked up from his feet.

"It's about Mikasa isn't it. It's something to do with why she was crying today. Why was she crying, because it's really freaking me out. She never cries."

Eren shifted uncomfortably, and looked away from him.

"Well?"

Eren sighed

"She loves me."

Leon raised an eyebrow, puzzled.

"Well I love you as well, and I love her and I'm pretty sure she loves me too, somewhere down in that cold heart of hers, what are you getting at?"

"No, Leon, she's IN love with me."

He furrowed his brow

"Like, not platonic-kinda love?"

"Yeah."

Leon frowned deeper and leaned backwards. He glanced over at Mikasa's bed, she seemed to be sound asleep.

"How did you find out about this?"

"Well she was down a lot recently as we both know. After the knife training this morning I decided to go find her. She was sitting under that apple tree near the pond, crying her eyes out."

He leaned forward intently.  
>"I sat down next to her and asked what was wrong, she stayed quiet for ages until she burst out into a rant about everything that's happened over the past 3 years. She eventually calmed down a bit but was still crying, I gave her a hug to cheer her up, all friendly and stuff. She said she loved me, I said the same back. She hesitated for a moment... before she corrected herself, she was IN love with me."<p>

Eren finished with a heavy outward breath. Leon was taken aback, and had no idea what to say.

Eventually, he spoke up.

"Well it's not very difficult to see why."

"What do you mean?"

"Well you saved her from the people that killed her parents, she then saved your life in turn, and then we took her in and she never left your side. It's pretty plausible that she would fall in love with you, she isn't our real sister after all, she's not even officially adopted."

Eren thought about this.

"You know you're actually making a lot of sense... but I don't know if I feel the same way, or if I even could feel the same way."

"Well that's no ones fault. You saw her as just a sister, while she saw you as something more than a brother."

"Well that's not entirely true..."

"Hmm?"

"There was always something else I felt about her... I could never really understand it till now."

Eren shook his head

"But I really don't think I'm ready for this, I can't just change how I've acted with her for years just like that."

Leon mulled over what he said, peering over his shoulder at Mikasa's sleeping form. Eren stared with him.

"I just don't know what to do, I don't wanna upset her, but I just don't think I'm ready for this."

Leon looked back at his brother before turning to his side and jumping down from the top bunk.

"I can't help you any more than this, its up to you Eren. I won't judge you, no matter what decision you make."

He was just about to lay down when Eren spoke up.

"Oh by the way."

Leon turned around.

"Yeah?"

Eren took a long pause, before saying

"I know you killed Keith."

Leon froze in shock. He stared at his brother in disbelief. Gritting his teeth, he replied venomously

"Yeah? Well he deserved it! After what he did-."

Eren put his hand up to stop him.

"You don't have to justify yourself to me, I think he got what he deserved, I just wanted you to know that you and her aren't alone in this."

Leon raised an eyebrow, the anger leaving his face.

"Well... thanks for understanding why I did it. I still do not regret it in the slightest."

He looked back down at the girl and sighed.

He lifted up the sheets and climbed into the bed. Slowly drifting off to sleep.

Mikasa attempted to hold in her heavy breathing as she processed the conversation that just took place right across from her.


	9. Chapter 9

**Decided to upload another chapter seeing as I wont be able to till sunday, reviews are very appreciated**

Sasha opened her eyes as warm rays of light fell onto her face. She shuffled uncomfortably and reached out for her lover. Not feeling him anywhere on the bed, she shot up and looked in every direction for him.

"Morning." Leon said from his old bunk, putting his boots on and smiling.

"Oh thank god, thought you'd disappeared on me or something."

Leon smirked

"You worry too much."

"Oh and you don't?"

He walked over to her and planted a kiss on her mouth.

"Well excuuuse me"

Sasha playfully punched him in the arm and gave him another quick kiss before getting on her gear.

Leon took a bite out of the apple in his off hand and sat down on his own bed. He glanced up towards Mikasa and saw her staring at her feet.

"Hey sis"

Mikasa looked at him frowning and managed a timid

"Hey."

He raised an eyebrow, but shook it off. Today was their last round of 3DMG training before they go out into the field with them. He couldn't wait to do that, flying through the trees at unimaginable speeds with the wind in his hair and a smile on his face. _I hope Eren can make it through this one, or he's out of the military all together. _

Leon heard his brother's bed creek from above him.

"Morning Eren"

"Hey." Eren replied with an annoyed tone.

Leon rolled his eyes.

"Oh come on man don't be like that, you'll do it."

Eren sighed and jumped down from his bed.

A few hours later

"EREN YAEGER!"

Eren had that look of determination in his eyes once again.

"You can do it." his brother told him, Armin giving him a reassuring nod. Eren did not reply, and walked through the crowd with his fists clenched.

"Woo! Go Eren!" Sasha beamed excitedly

Eren stepped on to the podium and slowly ascended into the air, to everyones surprise, he was keeping his bala- Suddenly he spun around in a circle and ended upside-down, a few people chuckled but Leon wasn't among them. _It's over now. Damn it Eren, why'd you have to fuck up again. _He looked up as the instructor ordered his brother to be lowered. He looked like a part of him had just died. _Now he's gonna have to work on the farms, and I assume Mikasa will go with him like she said the other day. _While he didn't want to be separated from his siblings, he had no intentions of working on a farm. He stared at Eren angrily, glancing down to his gear. _Fucking. Light bulb. _Leon stormed through the crowds and stood infront of his instructor.

"Let him try it with my gear."

The Instructor was about to reprimand him for his insolence when he began to mull over his words.

After a short while the Instructor stopped scratching his beard and nodded his approval.

Leon handed his gear to his brother who quickly replaced his own with it.

_You will do this Eren._

"Raise 'em up!"

Eren slowly ascended into the air, keeping still and concentrating fiercely on doing so. He stopped ascending, and held. The clock ticked by. _20 seconds. _Eren gritted his teeth. _10 seconds, come on you've got this! _Eren breathed heavily, unmoving.

_3 seconds! _ Eren grinded his teeth together and began to turn red. _2 seconds, 1 second!_

"TIMES UP YAEGER, WELL DONE! LOWER 'EM DOWN!"

The crowd burst into applause and the occasional cheer, mainly from Sasha and Leon. Eren stepped off the podium and over to his brother.

"You were awesome up there man!"

"Fuck yeah I was."

"I said you could do it."

Eren and Leon initiated their "Secret handshake of awesomeness" they had from back when they were kids, laughing all the way through.

Later that night

Leon laughed as he saw Eren clumsily fall off his chair after hopelessly losing a drinking contest to Reiner. This was the first time he had decided to join everyone at the bar along with Sasha.

"Looks like drinks are on you buddy."

Reiner pulled him up on his feet and shoved him towards the bar

Leon glanced to his left, catching Conny staring at Sasha like she was the first girl he'd ever seen. _Creepy little shit. _Leon grinned and shook his head. He looked around the bar for Mikasa, assuming she hadn't come. He began to felt like he'd had a bit too much to drink and got up to go outside.

"Back in a min, just getting some fresh air"

Stumbling slightly, he managed to get outside and rested his head on the banister. The cool night air was a stark contrast to the cozy pub and made him shiver. He glanced to his side when he heard a footstep, he expected to see Jean lighting up a cigarrete but what he saw was Mikasa.

"Hey sis what's going o-"

As he said it, she pushed him back into the outside wall and pressed her arm against his neck.

"What the fuck are you doing!?"

"Did you kill the Instructor!?"

"What? No! He died in an accident after falling off his-"

She drove her arm further into his neck.

"Don't give me that. I overheard you and Eren talking last night, you admitted to it, even said you didn't regret it!" She spat

"You better do some explaining right now!"

Leon sighed heavily, looking downwards. He grinned and looked back up.

"That's right. I killed him. And do you know why?"

The smile fell from his face.

"He raped Sasha the first day we came here."

Mikasa looked stunned, she moved her arm backwards slightly.

"That fucker got what he deserved, I warned him, I even gave him a chance to leave, but the cunt decided he didn't want to. That, is why I killed him." Leon whispered harshly, not wanting to be overheard.

Mikasa let go of him and stepped back. After a minute or two she looked up.

"You should have just told me that before. I would have understood, I might not have done what you did but I would understand why. I'm your sister, you don't have to hide things from me."

"I'm sorry, I was afraid of how you'd react."

"Its fine, whatever, just don't do that again. And sorry for nearly crushing your windpipe there."

He grinned and turned back to the door

"I'll see you later sis, in fact, why don't you join us?"

"No, I'm okay, I'll just go talk to Armin or something."

"Alright, see ya"

He entered the bar and was going to sit back down next to Sasha, when he noticed someone else in that seat.

"Uh Conny, I was kinda sitting there, if you don't mind." He tried to sound as unagressive as possible, he didn't want to start a fight.

"What are you gonna do about it?"

"I think maybe you've had a little too much to drink, come on man, don't start a scene."

"Maybe I want too!"

Conny put his hand on Sasha's shoulder, who didn't look too comfortable.

"Look man, you're acting kinda creepily, Sasha obviously isn't comfortable with that, I don't want to fight with you."

"Is that a threat?"

Conny put his arms around Sasha, with a look on his face that just said "I can do whatever I want" although to Leon, it read more like "Punch me right in the fucking jaw"

"Get off her right now."

Conny went to plant a kiss on Sasha's cheek when he grabbed him by the collar,

"Sorry to about this"

pulling him up to his feet before letting go of it and punching him right in the mouth. Leon didn't hit too hard, he obviously wasn't in his right state of mind and he didn't want to seriously injure him in anyway. The bar went silent when they heard Conny fall on his ass. He leapt back up and threw a few clumsy punches in Leon's general direction, missing entirely.

"Come on man don't do this, you're clearly-"

Conny went straight in for his stomach, grabbing him by the waist and shoving him against the door. Leon put his hand on his bald head and pushed him away with mild force, but Conny's "loose" state meant he went flying backwards and onto his ass again

"Dammit." The short kid muttered

He attempted to leap up again but Leon put his foot on his chest.

"Are you done with your tantrum?"

He burst into loud, wailing tears

"Ah I'm sorry man, I didn't mean to do it man. I'm sorry buddy! Man..."

Leon pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"Yeah you've had way too much, come on"

He lifted Conny to his feet and put his arm around his back.

"I'm sorry Sasha that was fuckin' stupid of me I'm sorry man"

"Lets get you back to the dorm buddy."

They left the bar in stunned silence.

After a few seconds, the entire bar erupted into hysterical drunken laughter.

Later

Sasha had her arms wrapped around Leon, they were still giggling quietly about Conny's little "thing" that happened in the bar.

"Remind me not to let him get drunk again."

"Yah"

Leon breathed out happily.

"Well it's official. We finally completed basic training and now we're onto the real stuff."

"It's gunna get harder isn't it."

"Yeap. We still got another 2 years here before we can even think about joining the Recon Corps."

She sighed at this

"Oh well, we'll get through it. Right?"

"Of course we will."

He smiled and gave her a long kiss.

"Night, love you"

"Love you too"


	10. Chapter 10

**Schedule changed abit, turns out I can upload today. Enjoy!**

2 Years Later

Leon stood atop Trost's wall, looking out to the vast fields ahead of him. Eren was chatting with the others who had been posted here to wait for their placement into the groups. Leon had come out just above Eren, which he wasn't too happy about, especially when he gloated constantly. Nothing had really changed between any of them. Eren and Mikasa were a little awkward with each other now, nothing had really happened between them since then. Sasha and Leon were still together, they never really went very far, not wanting to do something Sasha wouldn't be comfortable with, Leon didn't really mind.

Sasha walked over to him and put her finger up to her mouth, signalling to be quiet. He frowned as she gained a mischievous grin and pulled out some sort of food.

"Is that... Meat?"

"Mhm, I uh "Borrowed" it from the captains storage room"

"Meat's rare, barely anyone can afford to eat that."

Sasha smiled and put it in one of the storage boxes for later.

"You're crazy"

He put an arm around her whilst they sat against the sandbags lying about the place. He glanced over too his left to see Eren standing in the middle of the wall, grinning like an idiot. Leon sighed.

BOOM

A loud crash was heard and the face of the Collosal Titan appeared just behind Eren.

"Holy shi-" He was blown off the wall by the force of the Titan's blow to it. He just managed to attach himself to the wall with his 3DMG.

"Sasha!?" He looked to his right and saw her

"I'm fine!"

Leon nodded and looked around to see Eren gliding past, going upwards. _Is he going to fight it!?_

"Eren you crazy bastard what the fuck are you doing!?"

Leon zipped up to him as he stood atop the wall.

"Eren look out!" He shouted from behind, the Titan sweeping its hand across the top of the wall, destroying the cannons and fortifications protecting them. Eren jumped forward onto the Titan while Leon jumped back, with no where to go, he followed Eren onto the arms of the Titan. It managed to catch Eren in its hand, but he quickly escaped and ran up the arm, passed his brother.

"EREN!"

No reply, he had that look in his eye.

"No you don't!" Eren swung back around and then towards its nape, the weak point, but just when Eren thought he had him right where he wanted him, it disappeared.

Leon zipped over to the wall just in time to stop him falling to his death, and Eren thankfully did the same.

"What the fuck were you thinking!?"

"I could have ended all of this right there! I had to take a risk!"

Leon breathed out heavily.


	11. Chapter 11

The Captains sunken eyes scanned the young soldiers standing in the courtyard before him.

"We will clear the Trost distract of all Titans! Do you understand!?"

"YES SIR!" the soldiers cried.

"Good. You are dismissed, 30 minutes until deployment!"

Everyone began walking away. Leon followed suit and sat down on a nearby crate under an arch. Sasha walked over with a serious look on her face, sitting down next to him.

"So I guess this is really happening huh..."

She breathed out heavily.

"Looks like it."

"We'll make it right?"

"Of course we will. You'll be fine."

"Its not me I'm worried about."

Half an hour later

Leon stood next to Eren. They had been silently standing on the rooftops awaiting their orders. Eren spoke up.

"Look at it this way"

He looked back at his brother

"If we perform well enough right now, we'll get promoted really high, probably being able to command our own regiment soon, bypassing rookie status all together."

He grinned at them.

"Sounds good. I'm with you."

Armin said from the back, Leon nodded. The black haired girl who he'd forgotten the name of shouted

"Now now boys, don't get too excited, leave some of the glory for us."

"How about this, whoever kills the most titans gets bragging rights."

Eren grinned

"Alright, better not fudge your scores."

"SQAUD 34, MOVE OUT! THE VANGAURD NEED SUPPORT!"

Eren raised his arm

"Alright, give 'em hell!"

The squad roared in unison and rushed forward.

They sprinted across the rooftops at incredible speeds, zipping from place to place on their 3DMGs.

"Abnormal incoming!"

The Titan leaped forward toward Thomas and wrapped its arms and legs around a small tower.

The rest of the group stopped and looked confused, when the Titan reared its head around the corner. Thomas was jutting out of its mouth.T he black haired girl screamed and Leon gritted his teeth before leaping forward, making a beeline for the ugly monstrosity when another Titan caught him.

"SHIT!" Eren shouted and began rushing towards the Titan that got Thomas, knowing Leon could handle himself. The Titan pulled him towards itself, mouth wide. He tried to break free all he could but nothing worked. The Titans grip loosened slightly as he was just about to be dropped into its mouth, and Leon took that chance, he managed to slash open its fingers, dropping him downwards. He manuervered his body just right and managed to avoid being swallowed, but his arm was caught between the Titans teeth. Leon screamed in pain as him arm was completely bitten off. He gritted his own and in a rush of adrenaline managed to get off the Titan with one line, throwing him off balance and launching him far away. He flung into a wall that had rebar jutting out of it, landing dead on his eyes, before falling to the ground with a thud.

A few minutes later

Armin jumped down to floor, seeing Sasha with pumping on Leon's chest.

"Come on baby wake up!"

Armin stared with a horrified look on his face.

"Sasha? What happened?"

"I don't know! I was just looking around the area and saw him on the floor I-"

She stopped and carried on pumping

"He's lost so much blood... Sasha... He's gone."

"Shut the fuck up! He's not dead!"

She turned back to Leon, desperately trying to start up his heart.

"Please... Wake up..."

She lowered her head on to his chest, tears streaming down her face.

Leon's empty eye sockets stared blankly at nothing.

Suddenly, a huge crash was heard and a titan was over them, it's fat belly protruding outwards. Sasha hadn't reacted quickly enough and was picked up by it.

"SASHA!" Armin screamed as she was lifted into the air. She was dropped into its mouth whole, and swallowed.

"NOOOO!"

Armin sunk to his knees. _It's all over. Everyone is dead. And there's nothing I can do._

The Titan turned its attention to Armin and began walking towards him. _I might as well just give up. _He dropped his swords to his side and waited for his death.

"_Don't say things like that. You're not going to die. I won't allow it."_

"_and I'll never allow you to die. Even if I know that's impossible, I will do anything to prevent it from happening, no matter the consequences."_

The Titan edged closer to Armin.

"_You'd do that for me?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Promise?"_

"_Promise."_

Leon's fist clenched and he bolted up to his feet, hair covering his face completely. Armin gasped and his eyes widened.

_How can he possibly still be alive? He's lost so much blood! _Leon stood completely still, blood still dripping from his arm, torn off shirt blowing in the wind. The same wind blew the hair from his face. He had a terrifying Titan-like grin upon it, something that made Armin shiver in fear.

His head turned towards where Armin was.

_Promise?_

_Promise._

Leon stormed forward with one sword in hand, grinning all the while. He walked underneath the Titan and out the otherside. Just as it was about to grab Armin, Leon raised his sword, before swinging it in arc across the Titan's lower stomach. It screamed and stepped backwards. Blood and body parts began to spill out, Leon stood still, waiting. Sasha's body flowed out completely intact, though covered in blood. Leon leapt up into the air at the sight of this and zipped to a rooftop. Once there he swung down to the Titan's nape, just like he had been trained to do, and carved it open with a single strike. It fell backwards, Leon dodging out of the way, back down to Armin and Sasha. He sheathed his one sword, still smiling. Armin looked up and saw both his eyes were now back. _Impossible! How could they have grown back!?_

Another Titan peered around the corner of a building. Leon picked Sasha up with his arm and hauled her over his back. He began walking in the opposite direction of Armin. Armin still could not move, and just sat with the Titan coming towards him. Leon's head twisted around grotesquely with that smile still on. He looked almost as if he was thinking about something. The man stared at the stump of his arm intensely, before quickly extending it outwards. Armin eyes widened further as his arm grew reformed itself almost instantly. He could not think how this had happened, and sat in stunned silence. Leon sprinted back towards him and grabbed him by the jacket. He lead them to their escape at impossible speeds.

Later

"Where the hell have you guys been?"

Jean and Conny stared at the three of them

"Everyone's dead... Everyone..."

Armin rocked back and forth quietly. Leon was almost completely out of it, leaning on Sasha's shoulder.

"I don't know what happened... I though he was... I thought he was..."

Sasha stared at the floor, still in shock about what had happened.

Armin nodded and went back to rocking himself. Leon bolted upright, startling everyone.

"EREN!?"

Armin looked at him and nodded, tears in his eyes. Leon stood up and stared, mouth agape.

"You mean he's... He's..."

Conny nodded at him solemnly. Leon sunk to his knees, mouth still wide open.

"I'm sorry for you loss."

Jean said awkwardly. Leon looked at him.

"Loss? Loss!? Is that all this is to you!? Everyone around you is dying and its nothing more than a "Loss"?! This isn't fucking training anymore! People are dead!"

"I-I'm sorry I said that all wrong. Sorry."

Sasha put her hand on Leon's shoulder

"Come on calm down"

Leon sighed and sat back with her.

"I don't know what to do..." He whispered to no one particular. She grabbed his hand and held it tight as the rest of the group stared at them.

They were brought out of their silence by the sound of Mikasa landing on the rooftop with them.

"Mikasa!"

Leon jumped up and ran over, giving her a hug.

"Are you okay?"

"Uh I'm fine... Hey... why are you crying?"

Leon looked at his feet.

"Eren is... Eren is..."

Mikasa already knew what he was going to say.

"Eren is dead."

Armin clenched his fists

"I-Its all m-my fault" He stuttered.

Mikasa walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Armin, calm yourself."

He looked up.  
>"Get on your feet."<p>

He did as he was told and stood up shakily. She walked away from him and began

"We are going to get back to HQ, retake it and refuel. We all have just about enough to do so."

Conny spoke up

"That's all well and good but there's just too many titans around for that to be possib-"

"No. I will do it. Even if I have to do it myself. In my opinion you are all just a bunch of cowards, twiddling your thumbs waiting to be eaten." Everyone was stunned, she turned away from them.

"I will kill every last one of them if I have to."

With that she sped off towards HQ.

"I was hoping for something a little more motivational than that. This is all your fault Eren... ALRIGHT LETS GO EVERYONE, UNLESS YOU _ARE_ A COWARD IN WHICH CASE STAY OUT OF MY WAY!"

Jean shouted and set off in its direction.

Everyone began to follow. Leon gave Sasha a kiss on the cheek and followed Jean, Armin and her followed as well.

_I'll kill every single fucking one. For Eren._


	12. Chapter 12

**Shit gets pretty real soon. Enjoy!**

Jean and the rest of his group looked down at the scene before them, some of the group had been trapped down on ground level, having run out of fuel before the rest of them. Titans had surrounded them, and the group still on the rooftops had frozen still in fear. _There's too many of them..._

"Okay, everyone follow me!"

Jean began sprinting to his left and everyone else began to follow.

"We have to get to HQ!"

They were just in earshot as the screams came from behind

"I'm sorry" Leon whispered to himself as he tried to keep up with the group.

"We have to keep moving, if the Titans turn their attention to us we will all die!"

Jean reassured the group, though he wasn't sure whether he was reassuring them or himself.

Leon jumped through the smashed window made by Jean's exit, they saw the room to be empty and were confused.

"Where is everyone?"

"I think I might know."

Jean turned his attention towards one of the many desks around the room, and dragged out a terrified young cadet.

"So you think you can just hide while people are dying out there!?"

He punched the kid square in the jaw, knocking him to the ground. Marco grabbed Jean from behind and tried to hold him back, struggling against his strength. Leon spoke up

"Jean calm down, we're all terrified just like him, I mean look at the poor kid."

Jean breathed out heavily and Marco let go of him. They were brought out of their brief silence by a massive crash, two titans had broke open the wall and were peering through. Everyone began to scream and run out of the room. Leon and Jean simply froze and stared at their serene faces.

_We're dead. We are all going to die. This was pointless, Eren died for- _Leon's train of thought was lost as fist hit the side of one of the titan's faces.

"WHAT!?"

They shouted in unison as both of the monstrosities were blown out of the way by this Titan-sized fist. The owner of the fist stepped forward. It paid no attention to either of them, and ran forward towards the other Titans surrounding the building. _That Titan... it looked like... like... _He was brought out of his thoughts again as Mikasa, Armin and Conny swung into the room from outside.

"We made it!"

Leon stared and said

"Th-theres a Titan... An abnormal... He looks like-"

"We know, it cleared the path for us to get here. It doesn't seem to be interested in humans."

Leon had to say it.

"I-It looks like Eren!"

The rest of them stepped back in shock. Mikasa's eyes widened

"You can't seriously be thinking what I think your thinking."

"I am. What if he is Eren? He looks like Eren, acts like Eren... He has that look in his eye."

"You can't honestly think Eren turned into a titan because of a look one of them had in its eye."

"But it makes sense right? What if all titans are just dead humans!?"

"Look we'll talk about this later, we need to get moving and retake the supply room, you know, like we were supposed too."

Leon nodded and they ran out of the room.

-Later-

Sasha hugged Leon tight.

"I thought it had gotten you! I looked around everywhere for you and you hadn't followed us... I was so scared..."

He smiled and hugged her back

"Sorry, I won't do it again."

They sat down in an empty corner of the crowded room. _Everyone's freaking out trying to come up with a plan... This is ridiculous._

"O-Okay everyone listen up!"

Armin tried to shout over the panic and shouting in the small room.

"Everyone!"

No one could hear him over the commotion.

Leon got up and walked over to him, he stood on a nearby crate.

"ALRIGHT!"

Everyone stopped in silence as Leon bellowed in a deep voice.

"Alright. Armin here has a plan, so why don't you all shut up, and listen to him?"  
>He stepped off the crate and Armin stepped up on to it.<p>

"Okay, this may sound a little stupid, but it just might work."

-A few minutes after-

"This is a stupid plan"

They stood huddled together in the supply elevator, muskets at the ready. They began to be lowered and the others readied themselves on the beams above the Supply room. Leon looked over to Sasha and nodded encouragingly. The Titans began walking towards the wooden box. They had to hold their fire until all the Titans to be in position.

"Ready!"

"Aim!"

"FIRE!"

A barrage of gunfire was sent out from it, the Titans had been completely blinded.

"NOW!"

The others leapt down from the beams overheard, killing each Titan. Leon killed his and looked to his left, he saw Sasha on the floor with a Titan walking towards her.

"Shit."

He leapt down towards and went in for it's nape, he missed in his panic, and was smacked to the ground by it.

Sasha fell to her knees, and just when the Titan was about to grab her, Mikasa expertly jumped onto the Titan's weak point and carved it open, killing it instantly. Leon slowly stood up as Sasha was thanking his sister profusely and apologizing.

"Yeah I'm sorry too..."

Mikasa smirked at his apology walked back over to the others. They began to refill there supplies and the couple joined them. Once they had finished refuelling, they marched towards the large door to outside and opened it up.

"Alright people. Let's do this!"

The soldiers roared and sprinted forward.

-Later-

They stood on the rooftops and watched as the abnormal rampaged against its own kind.

"If we play our cards right this titan is our ticket out of here." Mikasa thought to herself as another titan was knocked to the ground. Jean shouted incredulously

"Play our cards right? Do you seriously think this Titan is going to help us!?"

"He is helping us."

Leon answered his question, which sparked him off again.

"_He?_ Oh don't tell me your still going on about it being Eren. It. Not he. Besides, looks like it's being overwhelmed anyway."

Leon looked back at it and saw it up against a wall, being chewed on by several other Titans.

_Can he not regenerate? Shit... I have to help him._

The abnormal managed to get out of their grasp and began fighting back, even though it had no arms. _He isn't going to last very long. I've gotta do it._

"I have an idea!"

Leon leaped forward, zipping onto the abnormal's back.

"Are you crazy!?"

"Leon stop!"

He cut open its nape in one strike. Eren's unconscious body fell forward from it. Leon caught him and jumped back down to ground level.

"Oh my god..."

"He was right!"

"Eren!"

The Titans began sprinting towards the pair of them. Leon was starting to think maybe this wasn't the best idea.

"Leon! You idiot! Come on guys we better save his ass."

Jean leapt onto a Titan and quickly dispatched it. Sasha sliced open the nape of the titan closest to Leon, and Mikasa killed the third. She ran over to them with Sasha and took Eren out of Leon's arms.

"Eren!? Wake up! Eren!?"

Leon looked down at his feet while Armin watched from above. _His arm and leg... They're back... just like Leon's arm and eyes..._

"Eren_?"_

There was silence for a moment, but a small outward breath came from him.

"Eren! Oh thank god!"

Leon looked back up and smiled in relief.

Tears streamed down Mikasa's face as she put her head on his chest.

"Thank god..."

-Later on that day-

Sasha put her head on Leon's shoulder.

"Aren't you worried about Eren?"

Leon looked at her.

"Eh he's fine, they're probably just want to debrief. Think about it. If I were them I would want to use this new power of his to our advantage."

Sasha thought for a moment, remembering his body lying on the floor, missing an arm and both eyes. _I never even questioned it... How could he have just grown them back!? Just like Eren did... Oh my god, what if he's a Titan too and doesn't know it?_

She was snapped out of it by him

"Wannna get something to eat?"

She forgot about what she was think and stood up quickly, grinning.

"I'll take that as a yes." He smiled at her and they began walking over to the food stall in the middle of the street.

"Can I get two loaves of bread?"  
>"Make it three."<p>

Leon grinned

"Three loaves of bread please"

"Alright that'll be four-"

BOOM

They whirled around and saw black smoke coming from one of the courtyards next to the wall. They still had there 3DMG's strapped on so Leon quickly hopped up onto the roof, and Sasha followed.

"What the fuck is that?"

"It looks like a Titan, wait... Eren? Did he change again?"

The half formed Titan appeared through the smoke, holding its hand out with a cannon ball in it.

"Did they fire at him!?"

The Captain shouted

"Reload and wait for my signal!"

Leon saw Mikasa and Armen down standing at the bottom of it, looking as confused as everyone. Just as the smoke was about to clear, they fired again, knocking off the head of the Titan. Leon clenched his fists and zipped down into the smoke.

"Leon wait!"

Sasha cried to him.

In the smoke, he found his siblings and Armin talking about something.

"I am going alone, to find the cellar in our house in Shiganshina, and find out what's in there."

Memories began flooding back to him at these words. _The cellar... Dad... He said we had to remember it... _He walked to them and stood over the three.

"I'm coming too."

Someone landed behind them.

"No you are not, I have to find it alone."  
>"Shut up Eren! I was involved in this too. Those trips that Dad used to take us on. The ones we never seemed to remember much of."<p>

He turned around.

"Sasha? What are you doing?"

"Where ever you go, I am coming too."

"And so am I."

Mikasa said stubbornly.

"And I will too!"

Armin proclaimed confidently.

"Well its settled then. We are all going together."

Eren gritted his teeth.

"No! I am not going to put you all in dang-"

Leon grabbed him by the shirt.

"Look, I am your twin brother, I will go where ever you go, I do not need to be protected by you, But we always have each other's backs. Alright!?"

Eren stared at him in shock, but then sighed.

"Alright. Fine."

"Okay. Everyone get ready. When the smoke clears we'll zip up to the top of the wall and get over it. We'll have to get out of here fast so they can't catch up with us."

They all nodded in unison and readied themselves. The smoke cleared and they all did as they had promised. In a mad dash they sprinted up the wall with the help of their gear and swung over the top of it, confusing the soldiers all around them.

They all hit the ground running on the other side.

"Use your 3DMG's to speed you up!"

They shot themselves forward towards a nearby forest.

"Once we are in there, they won't be able to catch us as long as we keep moving!"

They cleared the tree line and burst through the leaves. Now standing on the floor, Sasha spoke up.

"Do you think any Titans saw us?"

"Nah, we were going way too fast."

Leon replied

"And besides, if they did, we can easily kick their ass in here. There's so many places to swing from, and not much room for a Titan."

Mikasa sat down along with Eren.

"Fucking hell."

"That was insane."

"Eren, this whole thing is insane."


	13. Chapter 13

The forest was beginning to turn dark, but Eren was still failing at starting a fire. Sasha walked over to him.  
>"Let me do it. I used to go hunting and camping with my parents a lot. In here, I'm in my element."<p>

Eren blinked.

"Okay..."

She took the stones from him and knelt down. In a quick flick of her hands, a spark was released and the fire slowly began to take hold and subdue the pile of wood.

"See?"

"Thank god its freezing."

Leon and the others huddled in around the fire. They were all tired and hungry after walking through this forest for hours on end. _"We need to keep moving" Eren would not stop saying that. This forest must be huge._

He sat on one of the logs they had placed pre-emptively while Sasha huddled up to him. They sat for a while, shivering in the cold air. Leon was staring intently at the fire when he spoke up.

"Getting back to Wall Maria is going to be difficult. Titans roaming around. Almost no fuel."

They murmured in agreement, all accept for Armin, who seemed to be deep in thought.

"What do you think would be the best way to do it Armin? You're meant to be the brains of the group right?"

He looked up from the fire and seemed panicked

"Well I-I uh..."

They all leaned forward intently.

"I really don't know."

Leon sighed and everyone shifted in their seats.

"Sorry."

"No no it's my fault. I can't expect you to just pull an amazing plan out of your ass at the drop of a hat."

Armin smiled slighlty and went back to staring at the fire.

"We'll have to find food."

Mikasa said quietly. Sasha perked up at that

"Oh I can do that. I'll need some sort of bow though."

Leon now felt too tired to discuss any sort of planning.

"Ah well we can sort that out tomorrow. I'm going to sleep."

With that he got up off the trunk and laid down in front of it. None of them had any blankets to speak of, so he simply laid fully clothed in front of the fire.

"I'll take first watch. Afterwards Eren can."

Leon nodded at his sister's suggestions and pulled Sasha down to him. They wrapped their arms around each other, kissing each other good night.

Everyone had finally fallen asleep, and Mikasa got up, and began to pace around the small encampment they'd made. The dark had always made her nervous, but she would never tell anyone about it. She wanted to be like that badass persona everyone thought she was, but underneath she was just as fragile as them, maybe even more. Mikasa thought about what happened to Sasha two years ago. She had no idea how Sasha could possibly stay so happy and upbeat after something like that. _Or maybe that's just a persona like my own. _She looked down at the girl, smile on her face, even while sleeping. _Or maybe not._

She was interrupted by footsteps coming from behind her. Mikasa quickly whirled around and drew her swords. It was Eren.

"Oh. Sorry."

She put her swords away.

"Can't sleep?"

Eren nodded and stood next to her. They never were alone together anymore. He had grown distant from her after she had admitted her feelings to him. Eren turned to her.

"Mikasa, can I ask you something?"

She stared back into his eyes, and tried to sound casual.

"Uh y-yeah sure."

"You know back then, when we were still in training, when you admitted your feelings for me."

Mikasa turned red

"Uh um y-yeah what about it."

"Do you still feel the same way?"

She turned redder, she wanted things to be like they used to be, so she lied.

"No no of course not. That was probably just my little teenage brain going crazy haha..."

"Oh... Well alright then."

Eren looked down at his feet and trotted back to the fire.  
>"Night."<p>

Mikasa didn't reply. _Was he... Was he dis__s__apointed? _She stared down at him. _He was dissapointed. Oh Mikasa you fucking idiot! I've totally ruined any chances of us being together now. _She thought a moment about going over to him and admitting her feelings once again, but simply couldn't work up the courage to do it. She sighed and sat down on the log near Eren.

-The next morning-

Leon yawned as he opened his eyes and stretched his arms out.

"Morning."

He said to no one in particular, but realized it was still dark. He reached over for Sasha. She wasn't there. He bolted up and looked around the camp. The fire had gone out, and no one was to be seen.

"Sasha? Eren? Mikasa? Armin!?"

He sat back and was hopeful for some sort of reply, but it had not come. Standing up, he began running around the camp, frantically looking for a sign of any human life. He had found it. A trail leading through the long grass and trees. Sasha had taught him how to find tracks and follow them back in the cadets, it seemed like a whole different life, like a dream. He began following the flattened track through the thick trees. He could smell smoke already, and saw a clearing in the distance.

_Something's not right. This is all too easy. The obvious tracks, taking everyone but me, __this feels like a trap. But I can't take a chance, if it is a trap, I am willing to walk right into it if it gets them out of there. _He came close to the clearing and crouched down. He could see what looked like bandits, walking around, swigging bottles and laughing. _Or maybe there just drunk. Or stupid. Or both. Even still what am I meant to do? I can't just rush them, there must be like 20 atleast. If they hadn't seen or taken me they must have had to actually fight them, meaning these guys are probably pretty strong. _One of the Bandits walked near to where he was crouched, he was about to pull down his trousers when Leon grabbed him and pulled him into the bush, putting his hand over his mouth.

"Shout for help, scream, anything and I'll kill you"

He kicked at Leon and tried to escape. Leon brought a blade to his throat and made shallow cut into it. The bandit sat still at this.

"Now I have a few questions, such as what did you do with the people in my camp?"

The bandit bit into his hand but Leon gritted his teeth and threatened.

"Oh and how much would you like to keep all of your fingers?"

The bandit sat still and nodded.

"Okay, I'm going to move my hand, when I do, you'll tell me where they are, if you do I'll let you go, if you don't..."

The blade was pressed harder into his neck. He nodded again. And Leon moved his hand.  
>"They're tied in the chiefs tent." He pointed "There"<p>

Leon smiled and moved the blade away.

"Thank you for your co-operation."

He brought quickly brought the blade back up and cut a deep gash in his throat, he bled to death almost instantly.

"No one fucks with my family."

He threw the body off him and began to strip it, donning the fur jacket and hat before throwing aside his own. Leon stood up confidently, and strolled into the camp. _They may be drunk, but I shouldn't let them see my face._

He looked at his feet and guided himself past everyone towards the chief's tent. It was relatively large. He brushed aside the door to find the bandit stroking his sister's face.

"Aren't you a pretty one?"

Leon stopped dead in his tracks. His blood boiled as his eyes intensified with rage.

"You fucking get off her right now."

The chief whirled around and instinctively landed a punch straight on his jaw, Leon was out instantly. The others tried to move or shout through their bonds but could not.

"Oh you'll all fetch a very high price indeed."

Mikasa began to tremble at those words. _Sounds familiar. _The Chief turned back to her, examining her face.

"Oh, you're one of those Orientals they talk about?"

He smiled

"Very rare"

Someone placed a hand on his shoulder. He whirled around again ready to put down _that persistent bastard. _But stopped, his eyes widened. The same kid was standing there, who had knocked out cold a second ago, a terrifying grin on his face.

"What the fuck?"

The bandit went at him with his sword, expertly chopping his sword hand off in a single strike. Sasha screamed under her gag and tried to get up. The smile remained on his face, unmoving.

"What the fuck!? I just chopped your hand off! You should be screaming!"

Leon's voice was shrill and cold.

"Sorry. Is this better?"

He asked in a mocking tone, before letting out the most terrifying, unhuman roar they had ever heard. Everyone stared in shock and the Chief stumbled back. Leon raised his right arm, missing a hand. He looked at it, then back to the chief, grinning. The hand grew back within a second. No one could move.

"What!? What are you!?"

His smile grew wider.

"If it makes you feel any better, I have no idea either."

Leon grabbed the bandit by his throat, and crushed it like it was made of glass. The Chief was dead. Leon let out another roar as the blood dripped down his arm. This one seemed to take it out of him, and the smile fell from his face. He threw the body to the side, and rushed over to the others and untied them, though they did not move. He stood tall, before immediately falling onto his back from exhaustion. They sat for a few minutes, staring at his limp body.

"What the fuck WAS that?!"

Mikasa shuffled backwards. No one said anything but Armin.

"I think I have an idea what it might be, this isn't the first time its happened." She looked incredulously at him "But we need to move now, this isn't the time for explaining."

They nodded and stood up.

"I'll drag Leon. The rest of you are better than me at fighting anyway."

The three of them went outside while Armin dragged Leon along the mud floor.

The bandits were all completely silent after hearing the roars. Eren looked at them.

"Everybody run. Run far and fast as you can. Unless you want the same thing that happened to your chief to happen to you."

Eren thought it sounded kinda stupid, but it worked. The bandits got up one by one and began to sprint away.

Eren laughed smugly, but everyone else was still silent.

They began the slow walk back to the camp.

-Later-

"What? What the fuck are you talking about? So you're saying I'm like a mini-titan!?"

Armin shifted on his log uncomfortably.

"Sort of. More like a human with Titan-like abilities. Like strength, regeneration, that smile.

Leon looked down at his feet.

"Didn't you ever wonder why you're arm had suddenly grown back."

His eye's widened. _How the fuck did I never even think about that?_

"I don't know how but I never even thought."

Armin looked around to everyone else.

"See? He just has titan abilities, like Eren. There's nothing to be afriad of."

They had all seated themselves close to Armin, far away as possible from Leon. Even Sasha was sat away from him.

"Why are you guys looking at me like that? What have I done wrong? You all stood by Eren when his abilities came to light. Why are you acting like this?... I'm just as scared as you guys are..."

They all looked at eachother, feeling bad for their decision. Sasha looked down.

"Sorry."

She walked back over to him and sat by him, clasping his hand.

"I was being immature. I'm sorry."

Mikasa sat in her normal spot along with Eren, who said

"This must have something to do with that cellar. He did that weird stuff to us both. I couldn't remember it before but it's been coming back to me lately."

Leon frowned.

"We have to get to Wall Maria."


	14. Chapter 14

"Hey wait up!"

Leon ran through the dense forest, branches smacking into his face as he went.

"We aren't gunna find any materials for a bow with you running this quick!"

Sasha stopped and turned around to him with an annoyed look.

"Fine... Oh would you look at that?"

A long, sturdy looking branch was next to a nearby bush.

"Well that was easy."

Leon breathed heavily as he sat up against a large oak tree. Sasha grabbed the branch and pulled out her sword.

"Woah there, you can't carve out a bow with that!"

Sasha pouted.

"Says who?"

He blinked, confused, before sighing and letting his head fall back onto the bark. Sasha grinned and began to carve into the piece of wood, tangled hair falling in front of her face. Leon stared at the ground. _Why did those guys not take me? Why was it so easy? Why did all the bandits run away so quickly? Was it a test? _His eyes widened. _A test? A test for what?... Maybe it has something to do with my abilities? According to Eren all the bandits just up and left at his words. Maybe they had what they needed? But, who could know about this? And what would they want with me?_

Leon stood up after a few minutes.

"Let's start heading back to the new camp."

Sasha half-heartedly nodded and followed, still concentrating on the branch intensely.

**-Back at the camp-**

"Finished it!"

Everyone looked around to see an excited Sasha clutching a slightly jagged stick, with Leon in tow.

"So that's what we'll be using to get food. Great. Wonderful."  
>Eren sighed and went back to staring at the sky. His brother frowned.<p>

"What's up with you?"

"Nothing. Sorry." He sat up. "So what are you gunna use to string it?"

She pointed to her 3DMG.

"I'll use one of the lines from this, I mean it's not exactly needed now we are out of fuel."

Armin raised an eyebrow.

"Won't that be too thick? And where are you getting your arrows?"

Sasha frowned.

"I uh- W-well I just uh..."

She looked down.

"Oh I don't know. This was a stupid idea."

Everyone let out a disappointed sigh. The couple sat down on one of the rocks near the fire.

Sasha snapped the long stick in half and threw it to the side. She rested her chin on her hands glumly.

"I'm starving..."

"So am I." Leon replied "We'll have to survive on berries or something."

They sat quietly for a few minutes. Eventually Leon spoke.

"Guys I've been thinking."

They looked at him and leaned forward.

"Don't you think its kind of odd? What happened last night I mean?" Armin raised an eyebrow. "Don't you think its a little bit odd how it was only you that were taken and not me? How they made it so easy to just walk into their camp, how they all just ran away at the drop of a hat?"

Eren frowned.

"So? What are you thinking?"

"That maybe it was a test. Something to do with my abilities. You said it yourself, when they ran off they didn't really look scared, well what if that was because they expected it to happen? And they left because they got what they came for? What if they were purposefully baiting me into using my powers?"

They all fell silent, lost in thought, when an unfamiliar voice was heard.

"How observant of you Mr. Yaeger."

They all turned towards the voice to see a man in red robes leaning against a tree. His hood up, face obscured by a mask. The mask was completely black, all except for a wide smile painted across the bottom.


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello everyone! It's been a little while since I last posted any chapters. I will try to upload at least weekly at the least from now on. Only a short one for now but I may upload another in a few days. Enjoy.**

Leon eyes opened sharply. The room was completely pitch black. He sat up, noticing the cold, damp floor beneath him.

"Sasha? Eren?... Mikasa? Armin? Anyone!?"

There was no reply. He dragged himself to his feet, a voice came from dark.

"Don't worry, they are safe."

Leon glanced nervously around him, the voice seemed to have come from all directions.

"Who are you? What do you want!?"

"Calm down, calm down." He had a deep voice and was well spoken. "My name is Alexander the Grin, though you may call me Alexander. And I want many things Mr. Yaeger, and I believe you and your brothers talents may help me with that."

Leon attempted to compose himself, and tried to sound firm.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Me and my brother don't have any "talents"."

His voice faltered slightly. Alexander sniffed.

"Smell that?"

"What?"

Leon could see a faint smile in the darkness.

"Fear."

Leon took a step back, bumping into the wall behind him. As he did so a loud clicking noise resonated around the room and torches were lit up around it. The room was not a room at all, it was a damp, jagged cave. Alexander stood at the opposite side of the room, wearing that same mask he remembered.

"That's enough with the theatrics I think."

Alexander walked forward to a nervous Leon. Once Alexander was within a few paces he extended his arm. Leon flinched slightly.

"No?"

The man cocked his head sideways. Leon simply continued to stare at him.

"Alright then, come with me."

Alexander turned his back and walked towards the wooden door he was originally standing in front of. Leon hesitated, but decided it would be best to follow his instructions.

On the other side was a much cleaner, concrete corridor with openings all the way along it. They slowly progressed through it. Leon saw that the openings were blocked by metal bars. He glanced to his right and saw Mikasa unconscious on the floor of the cell.  
>"Mikasa!"<p>

Leon ran to the bars and saw there was no way in or out. No door, no anything. He whirled around.

"What did you do to her!? Let her out!"

Alexander raised his hand to attempt to calm the boy, but it hadn't worked. Leon lunged at him, trying to knock him over. Alexander quickly sidestepped and caught the boy in the face with his extended arm. Leon was knocked onto the ground, hitting the back of his head. The room fell silent, His eyes were shut and he was not moving. Alexander sighed, when Leon's eyes shot open and a wide grin spread across his face. He leapt to his feet and sent his fist flying towards Alexander at impossible speeds. The man effortlessly moved his head to the side, before slamming his hand into Leon's face, and smashing him head first into the ground. Alexander let go of him. Leon grabbed his own face in pain, bleeding all over his hands. The smile was gone from his mouth, only a visage of fear and agony remained.

"Now don't try anything like that again, and apologize."

Leon didn't look up or say anything.

"Say you are sorry."

No reply.

"SAY YOU ARE SORRY!"

Alexander lifted him up by the collar.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry!"

He put the boy down and sighed.

"Your sister is perfectly fine I assure you, as are Sasha and Armin."

Leon looked up.

"What about Eren?"

The bleeding had mostly stopped.

"Come with me."

He turned his back again continued walking down the hall. Leon hastily got to his feet and followed. They came to the end of the corridor and opened the door to the next room. Inside was what looked like a large dining table with seats all around. It was dimly lit, and not much could be made out. A face popped out from behind a large chair at the table.

"Leon!"

Eren leapt up and ran over to him.

"Are you okay!?"

His brother grunted.

"Yeah I'm fine."

"But you're bleeding, who-"

Eren glanced to the masked man next to them. A shiver went down his spine. Eren turned around and sat back at far end of the table.

There was another seat next to him, and Alexander gestured Leon to it. As he walked over he saw in each was sat other men in red robes with masks on. He sat down next to his brother and Alexander sat at the other side of the table.

"Now you are probably both wondering why we brought you here. We are an organization that call themselves "The Smilers". We are group of like minded people with similar abilities. We have taken an interest in your abilities, especially, _yours_." He turned his head to Leon.

"You are correct in your assumption Mr. Yaeger. The bandits were a test of your abilities. We had already seen your brothers in action the day you left the wall. Our eyes are everywhere."

The two boys shuffled in their seats.

"We want to help you to control your powers, like we have learnt to, and use them to their full potential. If, you help us in return."

Leon frowned and leaned forward.

"Why should we help you? All you've done is kidnap us and harm us! Why should we trust you?"

Alexander chuckled.

"Oh, were you under the impression that you had a choice?"


	16. Chapter 16

"Get up!"

Alexander's voice boomed around the large cavern. Rays of sunlight were made to dance by the trees high above the caves. Leon clutched his arm in pain. Alexander waited a few seconds before angrily storming towards him.

"Get up!"

Alexander sent a powerful kick flying into his stomach, sending him up into the air and crashing into a heap a few yards away. Leon cried out in pain. He breathed heavily clutching his stomach, his breathing slowed and quietened until the room was eventually silent. Leon tilted his head upwards. The corners of his cheeks were stretched painfully across his face. He leapt up and ran towards Alexander with a high pitched scream of rage. The man planted his fist dead on Leon's face, sending away his smile and knocking him back into the dirt.

"Focus!"

Alexander's face swam towards Leon, he reached out an arm and grabbed the boy by his shirt. He was completely dazed and confused, eyes rolling around in his head. Alexander's faced twisted into disgust, he turned to the side and threw the boy back in the dust.

"Pathetic. Useless. Pitiful. I'm hardly even trying."

Alexander shook his head.

"You may go."

Leon struggled to get to his feet and slowly stumbled to the door. He walked through the dim corridors for what seemed like hours before he came to his back to the room he had been given. It was better than a jail cell, and Leon did not think it was wise to complain. He sat down on the bed and stared blankly at the wall infront of him.

He took off his shirt and scanned his body for injuries. He was skin was darkened by bruises. _Atleast I'm not bleeding. _Leon pulled his shirt back over his head and sat back. _I wonder where Sasha is. I haven't seen her since we got here 2 days ago, or was it 3? _Leon frowned and sat up. _She could be anywhere.. what have they done with her? Oh my god... What if they killed her? They said themselves they have no use or interest in the rest of them!_

"Shit"

Leon stood up walked over to the door. On the other side it was mostly darkness except for a few torches along the wall. He decided to go the opposite direction he had come from, to the left. _If I remember right, the dining hall was at the end of this hallway, and then beyond that should be the cells._

The dining hall was empty. _Phew. _Leon only took a few steps forward when a smiling mask poked from behind one of the chairs, making him jump and step back.

"What do we have here? Leon was it?"

Leon nodded cautiously.

"I thought you were meant to be in your room. What are you up to?"

The man turned his head to the side. Leon thought about lying to him all together, but he realized that would probably just get him in deeper trouble. He sighed heavily before saying

"Look I just wanna see Sasha and the others okay? I haven't seen them in days."

The man nodded.

"Ah I see, well I see no issue with that, as long as you don't tell anyone."

He then lifted off his mask, Leon's eyes widened _Is he allowed to do that? _The previously masked man smiled and placed a finger over his lips. He younger than what Leon had expected. Mid-20s, he had semi-long hair like the young man before him, and was quite attractive, Leon thought to himself.

"My name is Jon. I'll take you to your friends, but don't tell anyone."

Leon smiled and nodded, walking towards Jon who was getting up.

"This way."

He led him to a the door he had entered in through a few days ago, and they were back in the blank corridor. They walked past the empty cells until they came to Sasha's, who was next to Mikasa and across from Armin. They looked terrible, they were dirty, there clothes ragged, and were covered in bruises.

"Oh my god..."

Leon turned to Jon.

"Let them out."

He raised his palms upwards, a solemn look on his face.

"Sorry but I can't-"

Leon's fist connected with his face, catching him by surprise and knocking him off balance and into the wall behind him. Jon looked back at him in shock. He stood back up walked over to him, and grabbed him by the neck and slammed his back into the wall.

"You think I want it to be like this!?"

Leon gritted his teeth and kicked at Jon, who seemed to be unaffected by his attempts.

"If you ask me, this whole cult is fucked up. If I had known it would be like this I would've left years ago."

Jon let go of him and let him slide down the wall to the floor. Rubbing his neck, Leon replied

"Then why don't you?"

Jon snorted.

"You think they'd just let me leave at the drop of a hat?" He smirked "I thought you were supposed to be intelligent."

He stared at the floor, looking flustered.

"I mean this is just so wrong... Locking up and beating a bunch of kids..."

"Then help me get them out!"

"Are you insane? You've tried to fight Alexander before, we both know how that went. And he was barely using a fraction of his strength. Then there's the rest of them to deal with..."

Jon trailed off. Leon looked down.

"There has to be something we can do."

He muttered.

"L-Leon?"  
>A sleepy voice muttered from behind him. He turned around and saw Sasha attempting to sit up.<p>

"Yeah its me"

He tried to give her a reassuring smile.

"Just lay back down, you'll be alright. I will fix this."

Sasha began to shiver slightly.

"Leon... I'm scared"

She began to cry and covered her face with her hands.

"Hey its okay, just go back to sleep."

She continued crying profusely and started to shudder violently.

"Please just go back to sleep Sasha, you need to rest."  
>Leon blinked back his own tears.<br>"S-Sorry"

She slowly laid on her back. Leon stood up and watched her. Eventually she seemed to have stopped crying, and almost looked peaceful. But her injuries reminded him how wrong he was. Leon's look of sorrow slowly turned to one of anger, and then to one of rage. He breathed in and out violently, getting louder and louder. Jon placed his hand on his shoulder.

"You okay?"  
>"I'll kill him."<p>

Leon said quietly.

"What?"

There was a pause, before he threw back his head and roared.

"I'LL KILL HIM!"

Leon sprinted back towards the dining room.

"Leon wait!"

He burst into the dining room, finding it completely empty. He growled and continued running. He ran along the hallway returning to where he had been training a short while ago. When he entered, he found Alexander looking up through the hole into the ceiling, seeming to be lost in thought.

"ALEXANDER!"

Leon charged into him, nearly managing to knock him over. He quickly regained his balance and kicked the boy behind him in the shin with incredible force. Leon's shin snapped and bent the other way instantly, causing him to be knocked to the ground. Leon roared and his bone seemed snap back into place of its own accord. Alexander's eyes widened. _But he isn't even smiling! There's no way he could have achieved dominance over it in this short amount of time! _Leon got back up onto his knees, he lunged for Alexander, who get out of the way quickly. Just before he fell to the floor, Leon spun around and grabbed him by his robe, bringing him to the ground with him. The man swiftly escaped his grip and stood up. Alexander brought his foot down upon Leon's face. He did not intend to seriously injure the boy, but no further fighting was required, he was out cold.

-Later-

Leon's eyes opened. He was in his room, on the bed he had been given. Alexander was standing over him. He prepared to have some sort of punishment inflicted on him.

"Well done."

He blinked, stunned.

"Very well done. You managed to hit me, even brought me to the ground. That takes a lot. I don't know how you did it, but well done."

Leon was taken aback.

"As a reward, we've decided to allow your friends to come out of their cells."

Alexander walked over to the door.

"Training resumes as normal tommorow."  
>He left the room. He was about to put his head back on his pillow when he heard footsteps coming towards his room. He sat up. In unison, Sasha, Mikasa and Armin all walked in. He leapt up out of bed and ran over to them, Sasha pulled him into an embrace.<br>"Hey"  
>He smiled and hugged her back.<p>

"Hey"

Sasha's muffled words sounded happy, but sad at the same time. Leon let go of her and turned to Mikasa and Armin.

"Are you two alright?"

"I'm fine."

Mikasa gave a slight smile, Armin nodded. Leon smiled back before he realized.

"Wait, have you guys been to see Eren yet?"

"No, Alexander said he wasn't here."

He frowned.

"Not here? Well then where is he?"

Mikasa shrugged slightly. Leon was confused. _Maybe its something to do with his Titan powers?_

"Maybe it's something to do with his Titan powers, I mean he obviously wouldn't fit in this place in his titan form."

Mikasa looked perplexed

"What do you mean?"

"Alexander has been _training _us, but I'd hardly call it that. To let us control our powers or something. It seemed like he was just beating the shit out of me."

He lifted up his shirt to show his bruises, but found there were none.

"My bruises... They're gone..."

Armin spoke up.

"It's just like before. When you got your arm cut off it grew back, it seems all of your injuries heal."

He nodded and put his shirt back down.

"Well I'm going to go to my own room. I'll see you later Leon."  
>Mikasa walked out.<br>"I will too."

Armin followed suit. Once they were gone Leon looked at Sasha.

"So you gonna stay with me?"

She nodded tiredly, walked over to his bed and began to strip off. She got under the covers and beckoned him over. Leon wasn't tired but he wanted to keep her happy, so he obliged. He walked over and took off his shirt, climbing into the bed. Sasha rested her head on his chest, arms around him.

"Love you"

She said quietly.

"Love you too"

-Later-

Leon had been staring at the ceiling ever since Sasha had gotten to sleep. He dreaded the next morning, more training with Alexander. He got out of the bed, being careful not to wake her. He pulled on his shirt and slipped into his boots before making his way down to the dining room. This time it was completely empty, until Jon walked in. Leon was already sat at the table when he entered.

"Hey."

Leon watched him as he sat down in his seat, a few spaces away from him.

"So I heard you actually beat Alexander."  
>"No no no, nowhere near. I got him down on the ground at one point, but he knocked me out right after that."<p>

Jon looked dissapointed.

"Still though, you brought _Alexander _to the ground. That's something to be proud of."

Leon rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Yeah I guess so..."


	17. Chapter 17

**This'll be the last chapter I post until 2015 comes around in a week or so. Merry christmas, happy new year and all that shit. Enjoy!**

Alexander's fist connected with Leon's smiling face.  
>"You must focus! You can never hope to be rid of your demons if you cannot fight without them!"<p>

Leon stumbled backwards and the smile disappeared once again.

"You must fight your own battles. Use your abilities increase your own power, not let someone else do it for you."

"Someone... else?"

"Yes. If you have no control over yourself, then surely you cannot _be _yourself. That is why you need focus."

Alexander sighed heavily as the boy infront of him collapsed onto his knees, panting.

"We've been at this for hours..."

Alexander considered this for a moment.

"Yes I suppose that is true. Very well, you may rest for a while, but I want you back in this room one hour from now. You are dismissed."

Leon left Alexander to do whatever he does in there. _I could use something to eat. _He walked down the hall and to the dining area, when he walked in, he found everyone was sat at the table, including Eren. Leon's eyes lit up and he ran over to them. Jon seemed to be the only other one in the room.

"Eren! Hey man!"

He sat down at the table and looked sideways to his brother, who said nothing.  
>"Uh... Eren?"<p>

He continued to stare into his lap.

"Hey."  
>He said quietly. Leon frowned.<p>

"Are you okay? Where have you been?"

Eren said nothing once again. Leon looked him up and down, and saw he was covered in scars in bruises.

"Holy shit you're hurt!"

He went to put a hand on his brothers shoulder, but he pushed his hand away.  
>"I'm fine."<p>

Leon stared at him open mouthed, before looking around at the other people at the table.

"He's been like that all morning."  
>Mikasa said when Leon turned to her.<p>

Armin and Sasha were glumly eating the plain, flavourless food they have been given, not looking up from their plates. Leon looked to Jon, who was leaning against the wall. His mask was off, oddly, but might as well had it on, he was expressionless, staring at nothing in particular. Jon noticed Leon looking at him, and tilted his head towards him, before going back to staring at nothing.

Leon sighed, he wasn't interested in eating the tiny meal he had been given, he stood up and left to go back to his room, after a minute or so, Sasha excused herself and followed him, when she got to their room, she found Leon, face buried in his hands while sat on the edge of the bed. Sasha sat next to him, concerned, and put an arm around him.

"Whats wrong? Are you okay?"

Leon quietly sobbed.

"Its all my fault."

"What's your fault?"

He looked up from his hands and stared at the wall, his eyes brimming with tears.

"Everything. I got you all into this mess. Its my fault."

Sasha frowned and put her other arm around him.

"You can't blame yourself for this..."

Leon pushed her hand away, suddenly bursting with emotion.

"Yes I can! Its all my fault! Everyone I love gets hurt because of me! You'd all be better off if I never existed!"

Sasha mouth opened wide. She shouted angrily.

"How can you say that!? Have you forgotten the night we met!? Do you honestly think I'd be better off without you!? Huh!?"

Leon realized what he had said and looked at her.

"No no, I didn't mean it like that... but its just you've been hurt so much, because of me. The fake bandits kidnapping you, that was because of me, Alexander locking you up and torturing you, because of me. Them doing whatever they did to Eren, because of ME! All I do is get people hurt!"

Sasha calmed down, and put her arm around him again, he let her this time.

"I should just kill myself."

Sasha face twisted into a look of fear, then anger. She took her arm away, and slapped Leon as hard as she could, he cried out.  
>"What was that for!?"<p>

"Don't you ever fucking say something like that you stupid son of a bitch."  
>She threw her arms around him, squeezing him tight, choking back tears.<p>

"I fucking love you. Okay? And so do Eren and Mikasa. Nothing will ever change that."

Leon closed his eyes and hugged her back.

"I'm sorry."

"Its alright. Just don't say anything like that ever again. You really scared me okay?"  
>"Ok, I promise."<br>She buried her face deeper into his chest.  
>"I love you."<br>"I love you too."

They sat for a while, before the door opened. It was Mikasa.  
>"Oh, hope I'm not interrupting anything."<br>Leon let go of Sasha and quickly wiped his eyes.  
>"No its fine. What's up?"<br>"Alexander sent me, he wants you back at the training room."

Leon frowned. _It hasn't even been half an hour yet. _He sighed and stood upright. Quickly wiping his eyes, not wanting Alexander to see him being "weak". He smiled at Sasha and left the room, he saw Mikasa walk in and sit down next to her before he left. His footsteps echoed through the dark corridor as he got closer to the "training" area. When he walked through, Alexander was stood gazing up at the hole in the ceiling.

"You said I had an hour."

"Yes I did, then I realized how little time we have."  
>Alexander turned to Leon.<br>"Do you know the worst part about training to become one of us? Its that its on a time limit you see. There's only a matter of time before the other part of you, takes over every aspect of your mind."

Leon's mouth dropped.

"And you choose to tell me this now?"

"It did not seem relevant until now. Anyway. Let us begin."  
>"Hey hold on a second-"<br>Before he could finish, he was grabbed by the shirt and thrown towards the center of the room. _Focus. _Leon grabbed Alexander's wrist, and as he flew over him, kicked him in the face, he landed on his feet before shoving him into the door.

"Very well done."

The man sent a punch at Leon's face, who quickly ducked and jabbed him in the stomach. _I'm in perfect position, this is my chance! _He quickly put his arms around Alexander's stomach, tightening, and tried to lift him over his head. The man gave a small inward laugh, and lifted his right leg swiftly, enough to send the boy flying backwards. Leon twisted mid-air and managed to land on his knees a few feet away. He sprung up again and sped towards his instructor. He charged into him at full force, but it was not successful. Alexander grabbed him by the head, stopping him dead in his tracks. He repeatedly uppercut the boy with brutal strength, kneed him in the stomach, and threw him to the other side of the room.

"And you were doing so well."

He walked over to Leon, who was laying on the cold, rough floor. He reached a hand down to help him up, having pity on him, but stopped. Leon smiled insanely up at him, wide eyed. Alexander gritted his teeth, and put all his strength into a single punch, this incredible force made the smile fade instantly, and Leon's eyes closed.

"You must FOCUS! THERE IS NO OTHER WAY! DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND? YOU MUST FIGHT AGAINST IT OR YOU WILL LOSE YOUR MIND! Think of all the people you love, what will they do when their Leon is replaced by an insane murderous killing machine!? YOU. MUST. FIGHT IT."

…...

Leon stood in pitch black darkness. He looked around confused, he could not see anything. A raspy, high pitched voice spoke up.

"Hello Leon."

A figure appeared about 20 feet away from him, but the rest was still shrouded in darkness. It looked like him, but it was different. Its hair was longer, bedraggled and messy. His eyes were dark and sunken in. But the thing Leon noticed most of all, was his terrifying, titan-like smile.


End file.
